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Cops and Motorcycles 01
=TRIGGER WARNING FOR STRONG LANGUAGE. PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION.= Author's note #1 : These characters are from S.H.I.E.L.D. High Role-Play Wiki. The characters belong to Miramc22, LivvyLove17, MermaidatHeart, and Noahm450, their roleplayers. Author's note #2 : This story is a continuation of Cops and Robbers and Cops and Spaceships. This will only make sense if you read the linked stories above. Author's note #3 : This is a continuation of Cops and Motorcycles Prologue. It will only make sense if you read the link above. Author's note #4 : This author owns none of the art and images shown. ---- First things first: I didn't agree to it. I was given a ten-year sentence to one of the most incapacitated, closed-off, desolate prisons in the whole galaxy, and nobody even asked for my opinion. Have we really sunk that low as a society? And apparently, this place was relatively new, compared to some of the others I'd come across. I hadn’t even heard of it, before I got sentenced there. It was made in July of 2015, and was stationed next to Contraxia’s fourth moon. It’s about the size of the planet Mercury from the Solar System, and the shape of it...is a cube. Huh? Yes, evidently. Terran Science claimed that only sphere-shaped planets existed, but here I was, chained up in the cockpit of a spaceship, staring out of the smudged window at my new home for the next decade. It was shaped like a cube. That's where they got the name for the prison. The Cube. How original. With my hands cuffed behind my back and a Holographic Space Suit pinned around the same location, I trudged out of the ship and across towards the entrance. I gazed out at the vacuum of space, and reminded myself to not look down below the platform I was walking. If it were to crumble...I'd be a goner. Although, that would probably be better than whatever torture I was about to endure. Guiding me was the most pathetic excuse of a Nova Corps Soldier I'd ever met in my entire life, aka...Vega Hastings. Vega and I met during one of those years I'd taken a break from being a Galaxy's Junior Guardian (I forgot which year, but it was one of them.), and we'd developed a bond. Not a romantic bond, mind you: a friendship bond. She was the elder by a few years, so she always saw herself as an overprotective older sister to me. And I did trust her with a lot of my problems...but not all of them. "I still can't believe you did that." Her voice was muffled by the blue and gold helmet on her face. I scoffed. "You had so much potential! You could've gone on to do incredible things! Why would you throw it all away?!" "You're not my Mom." I answered with an eye roll. "I'm serious, Adam!" She stopped me midway and turned me to face her. "The prisoners in there: they're criminals! They're bad people! I know you, you nothing like them!" "Maybe you don't know me that well." Her angry front broke for a second, to reveal one far more vulnerable. "I just don't understand why you'd do that. You could've been a hero. Now...I-I'm not so sure." For once, I couldn’t dish up a good comeback. The reason? Vega was right. What I did was unacceptable. It wasn’t until that moment I felt guilty. Not the arrest, or the shitty space trial. It took knowing I let Vega down to make me regret my actions. If she was disappointed in me...I could only imagine how the rest of Nova Corps felt. It would take a long time to make up for this. Ten years, to be more precise. Vega practically shoved me into the interior of The Cube's hangar bay, and a minute or two later, I felt the space suit dissolving, morphing back into it's spherical form. At the same time, Vega removed her helmet, revealing her dark-colored shin and mess of curly black hair, and placed the space suit inside her bag. The oxygen in here was normal. What a relief. Continuing to push me forward and clutching my cuffed wrists, Vega steered me towards the only other person in the bay. It was a Rainer woman, dressed in a beige cardigan and long gray skirt. A pair of what I assumed to be eyeglasses sat upon her snout, and I was worried they would fall off at any given moment. The name tag on her jacket read ARIELLE. She had a holographic tablet in her hands, and she was so engrossed in it she didn't notice us come in. I could relate. Vega put on her professional Nova Corps soldier act (I've seen it many times before.), and cleared her throat to get Arielle's attention. "Excuse me. My name is Denarian Hastings, I am here on behalf of the Nova Corps. I need to know if-" "I know Nova Corps when I see 'em." Arielle interrupted in a strong Jersey-like accent, without glimpsing up from her tablet. "Oh! Okay..." Vega looked shocked, but quickly regained her composure. "Then you can show me where the prisoner drop off for The Cube is." "No." Holy shit. This lady was ignoring her request? Even I'' was shocked. Rainers aren't normally the disobedient type. Plus, Nova Corps weren't the type of people you want to talk down to, even someone as lame as Vega. They can go from casual to lethal in milliseconds if you ticked them off. Vega had the same reaction as I did. "I'm sorry...what?" "Giving bossy Nova Corps directions to where they can get rid of their poor captives isn’t my ''job." Arielle sneered, finally shutting off her tablet and putting it away. "If you wanted to know, you should’ve done the research yourself, sweetheart." "Oof, burn." I muttered under my breath, smirking. For the first time I'd ever known her, Vega was speechless. "I-I don't-" "Is this Adam Padyao?" Arielle cut her short a second time, gesturing in my direction. Oh, so she realized I was here. Cool. Wait, how did she know my name? "Yes?" Vega was blurting out whatever she could think of at this point. "What of it?!" "Nova Prime messaged me ahead of time regarding your arrival." "...Oh." Arielle pushed her glasses forward up her snout. "So, with all due respect, sweetie, you don't exactly have the right to order me around." "But-but-" "How's about this?" The Rainer harshly grabbed me by the shoulders, making me jump. "I'll take Mr. Padyao here to the drop-off myself, and you two part ways right now." Vega didn't even try to argue with the lady. She'd seen how big of a bitch she was, and decided it wasn't worth wasting energy on doing her job properly. I recognized the grief in her hollow brown eyes, and I offered some comfort. "Hey, hey, don't cry. Don't cry. If you cry, I'm gonna cry too. Do you know how bad that is for my reputation?" "Shut up, Adam. You don't have a reputation anymore." She wasn't wrong. "Don't worry. Ten years will pass by before you know it. That, or I bust my ass outta that prison and personally punch whoever's in charge in the nose." I snickered at the thought of breaking out before I even got inside. "Probably the second one." Arielle's grip on me tightened. "Are you quite finished?" I sighed. There was no time for big epic speeches. "But, Vega...I'm really gonna miss you. Thank you, for these past few years together. We've done some pretty awesome shit together." She laughed in between her tears. "One more thing." I had to make sure I said this before I forgot. "When you see Nova Prime again...tell her I'm sorry. I wish everything hadn’t gone down the way it did." Vega's lip trembled. "Yeah. Me too." We embraced, and as I heard her sobbing into my back, that regret from earlier surfaced again. I savored that moment as long as I could, until she let go. "Bye, Adam." "Bye, Vega." ---- I stood before some type of chamber, pipe, thing. I'd seen liquid chambers like these before, but this one was empty. The walls were made of glass, and its height was about seven feet (compared to my 6'1, that was pretty damn tall). It was at the very back of the hangar bay, and several more of them were lined up in a row. None of them appeared to have doorknobs anywhere on them. Looking at the bottom of the chambers, their floors were transparent, meaning they would disappear upon command. So basically, I was being put into an elevator that only went one way: down. I could see Arielle's pointed ears through the reflection of the glass. "This will lead you directly to the inside of The Cube." "You're not coming with me? Like, to make sure I don't escape?" I asked. "You won't escape." Her expression was bleak and sinister at the same time. "Trust me." She tapped a few keys on her tablet, and the front wall of the chamber-elevator dissolved. I had only seconds to take that in before she shoved me inside with my handcuffs still on and sealed it back up. I literally could see no way out. "Wait, what the hell?! You can't just leave me in here! How am I supposed to get out?!" "Shoulda thought about that before you got yourself sentenced here!" She pressed a single button, and grinned like a maniac. "Good riddance." The floor underneath me disappeared, and I plummeted. For a singular second, I lost consciousness. Actually, was it a singular second? For all I know, I could've been in there for hours and it would've felt the same. Point was, I was going so fast, I blacked out. When I came to, I was different. The first thing I noticed, my handcuffs were gone. How could I tell? My hands were no longer stuck behind my back. I could move them freely. But it was when I examined my wrists I discovered the second change: my attire. I wasn't wearing my favorite jeans and the only converse I had left from Earth anymore, they'd been replaced. Now, I had on a full-body white jumpsuit, that covered everything, including my feet, and had no signs of zippers or buttons, meaning I couldn't take it off. But why would I want to? I was going to be here for a long, long time. Might as well get used to this uniform-'' Woah. Where did that thought come from? The final change, I noticed upon looking at my new clothes. A watch, sat on my right wrist. Same color as my uniform, and the centerpiece was glowing blue and had letters of a language I didn't understand. And that's where things got weird. I wanted to look at it, take it off-''no I didn't. I didn't want to take it off. Wait, what? No, I wanted-''I wanted to leave it alone. If I was smart, I'd leave it alone.'' What?! What was this thing doing to me?! Those were my thoughts, I knew for sure, but somehow, this watch was feeding ideas into my head every time I was tempted to remove it. Don't remove it. This watch...it was brainwashing me. Brain-watching. Get it? Ha ha ha ha ha. I'll stop. As I looked to see if anything else was different about me, the front wall of the elevator vanished. Instinctively, I stepped out, and took in my new sights. This place felt like a shopping mall. Mostly in terms of size; it felt vast. But it was like a shopping mall in other ways too. The Cube was cramped. There were prisoners every which way I turned: conversing, leaning against walls, ambling around with no clear destination in mind. How did I know they were prisoners? Simple: I did the math. Everyone I saw wore the same thing as me, and I was a prisoner. It added up. But sure enough, every single person had a watch strapped to one of their limbs. Of course. Security guards weren’t necessary here. Those watches were their way of keeping us in check. Whatever mind control this device had on me, it would keep me from breaking out. Somehow I'd tell myself trying to escape was pointless. Arielle had been right. Touché. I was so engrossed in the scenery, I didn’t notice a girl walking my way. She was shorter than me, (I mean, most people were.) but somehow the uniform fit her fine. Her black hair was in tied back in a bun with not a single loose strand visible, and her latte-colored skin highlighted her eyes: dark grey with a hint of brown. In her hands was a tablet similar to the one Arielle used. What species was she? Usually I could tell, but she had no unique blemishes on her body to distinguish. "Hey!" The girl offered me a smile as she pressed her screen. "You're Adam, right?" "Yeah...?" "I'm Gigi. Consider me to be your Personal Welcoming Committee." She shook my hand forcefully, and I felt her nails dig into my skin. As I let go, my eyes fell on the watch again. I sighed. "Can-can I ask you something?" "Of course." "Why don't I want to take this off?" I held up my arm, showing off the suspicious device. Gigi’s expression dulled, and I realized by her hesitation that the watch really did have some kind of authority in this prison. Was she forbidden from revealing what it did? I wondered how many other newbies had asked the same question. "...The watch sends waves to your brain that wipe away any urges you may have to pick or pull at it. To keep you from taking it off." I knew it. "So uh, if it didn't send brain waves, could I still take it off?" "Not without the proper equipment.” Gigi shook her head, her jaw set. “If you did, your mind would literally explode." "Oh." "Yeah, I'd recommend just pretending it's not there. It doesn't really do much else to you." That was a fat load of shit and she knew it. Language! Gigi quickly dropped the solemn expression and resumed a smile. "Anyway, I’m here to give you a tour of this place, so, hope you’re up for some exercise!" Wait, no, I still had more questions! ...Uh, what were they again? Oh, crap. "Yeah, let’s do it." "That’s the spirit!" She folded her tablet up, so her hands were free. "Alrighty, this way to the food quarters!" ---- Hoverboards. Freaking. Hoverboards. The Cube had accessible and fully functional hoverboards, yet Gigi and I were walking. Sure, hoverboards are a very common mode of transportation in places like Xandar, Aakon, or Drez-Lar. But you need to understand: I grew up on Earth. Last I checked, they didn’t have technology that advanced. Terrans are Neanderthals compared to everyone else, including the Easik. I had my share of being a fish out of water when it came to foreign gadgets. Staring at an Efflux-3 and asking how to use it while those around me knew how it worked like the back of their hands. Trying to remember which button in the Star Blaster was the engine ignition, and which enabled tractor beams. Having to practically teach myself to use a Global System because I was too embarassed to just ask. It sucked, but as time went on, I got used to all that new and cutting-edge equipment. Now, the only piece of gear I'm not bored of is hoverboards. Why walk? Why do anything if hoverboards exist? Like, honestly. Gigi was rambling about the schedules and dormitories, but the hoverboard was distracting me. Watching the swerves and craftsmanship was so...fascinating to me. I could just stare at this guy driving all day-that was, until he noticed me with my jaw open. "What'cha looking at, punk?!" "Adam, come on." Gigi grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my trance. I took a few steps back, as the person riding the hoverboard floated our way and leaped off his vehicle to stand right in front of me and Gigi. His copper-red hair was slicked back, and his brown eyes pierced into my soul. He was only a few inches shorter than me, but those inches meant nothing to him. Somehow he was still superior. "Gigi. I see you're still showing newbies around when directories exist." The red-haired guy nodded toward my guide. Her nose scrunched up. "Dustin. I see you're still being a douchebag." "Oh, please. I want no trouble from you." Dustin, apparently, glared in my direction. "This guy started it." "...How did I'' start trouble? All I did was stare at you." I squinted. My tour guide snorted. "Don't bother. He just wants attention." "''I'm the one who wants attention, huh?" Dustin chuckled, yet neither Gigi nor I found what he said to be funny. "Do you even know who you're standing next to? Or do you just ignore the facts that aren't relevant to you and your big ego?" "We're leaving. Take your stupid hoverboard and your stupid witty remarks and go bother someone else. Okay?!" Gigi practically dragged me off in the opposite direction of the redhead, her heels loudly stomping on the carbon floor. I could hear howling laughter from behind us, but I didn't look back. "Just as I expected from someone as competent as you, Gigi! You don't give two shits about the world around you, unless you're somehow involved! I'll bet you even know that kid's from Terra, and you're just ignoring it because who cares, right?!" Terra. The name given to Earth by non-Earth natives. I dug my heels into the ground, forcing Gigi to stop so I could turn around and stare at this person for a second time. "How do you know I'm from Earth?" This had been Dustin's plan: to get my attention by mentioning the planet I was raised on. He must've assumed I'd get defensive about it, seeing as badmouthing Earth and its outdated technology isn't uncommon. "I had a life before The Cube. My dad was a member of Nova Corps, and that meant he was almost never home to see me or my alcoholic mother. I had to raise my baby brother on my own, because my dad claimed serving Nova Corps was the highest honor in the galaxy. Well, guess what? He died on Xandar, fighting against the Kree Ronan. For a Terran. But they don't tell you about the casualties, do they?" My blood ran cold. I knew exactly which Terran Dustin was referring to. Peter Quill. I hadn't been on Xandar when the battle broke out, but when I heard about Star-Lord's accomplishments, all I focused on was the victory. The losses hadn't even crossed my mind. And now, this redhead with a hoverboard was hellbent on making all Earth natives feel pain like he had. "So yeah. I know a Terran when I see one." He concluded, cocking his head to the side. "And here's a bit of friendly advice: stay out of my way." Category:Stories Category:CAM Parts Category:TGJG Parts